Paternal Protection
by CatchingCraziness
Summary: Jim receives a card that causes confusion aboard the Enterprise. A Father's Day story. No Relationships. Mentions Tarsus IV.


**A/N: I don't even know what to say about this story. It's my first Star Trek story, so I apologize if the characters are a bit OOC. **

**The idea came to me as I was wondering what Jim did on father's day. It was meant to be about him and David, but somehow Kevin butted in and refused to leave. Enjoy!**

**Warnings: Mentions of hunger, massacre and death. Tarsus IV. **

**Paternal Protection**

It started off like a normal day. The Captain seemed quieter than usual but there wasn't anything obviously wrong and he was still willing to smile at everything around him. They were a few months into their five year mission and it was a nice rare day of peace where they had another week before they reached the next planet that needed exploring.

The stillness was broken by the turbo-lift opening up to reveal a confused looking Scotty. He was given a few curious glances, but as he walked straight over to the Captain, most people went back to their work. As if he'd known Scotty was coming, the Captain reached an expectant hand out and waited until the Chief Engineer gave him a white envelope.

"Ensign Riley demanded that I give you this," he told him in his typical Scottish brogue. "Not that you seem surprised, laddie."

"I'm not," Captain James T. Kirk, otherwise known as Jim, replied with a soft smile. "Thank you Scotty."

The Scotsman nodded thoughtfully and then wandered over to discuss something with Chekov. It was clear that he was waiting for the Captain to open whatever it was that he'd delivered, but Jim didn't order him back to his station. It was a slow day and the Alpha team didn't have much to do anyway, a distraction in the form of Scotty might do them good.

Jim opened the envelope carefully; making sure not to rip the blank paper. At the sound of the opening envelope, his friends gave up on pretending that they weren't paying attention and instead watched as he pulled out a card.

The card was plain white except for two golden capital 'D's with the Starfleet insignia between them in silver. It was clearly meant to spell out the word 'DAD'. The word surprised those who could see it, but Jim simply grinned at the card and opened it up to read the message hidden inside:

'_To D, __**Happy Father's Day! **__Come meet me for lunch. From S.'_

He didn't show the others what the card said, instead choosing to place it back inside the envelope for safe keeping and standing up from his seat.

"Commander Spock, you've got the chair while I go for lunch," he announced as he headed for the lift. The Alpha team exchanged puzzled glances as the lift doors closed, efficiently cutting the Captain off from any questions they may have wanted to ask.

Striding into the food hall, Jim grabbed a plate of pasta and an apple before making his way to a small table against the far wall where a young man was already sat. The man smiled as Jim took a seat across from him. He looked like he was the same age as Chekov who had only been given a place on the _Enterprise_ thanks to his brains.

The pair drew a few stares as word about the card got around the ship, but no one dared to venture forward and interrupt the meal between the Captain and a young Ensign. No one could say what the two of them talked about, and once their food was consumed, they both stood and went back to their separate work stations.

It was obvious that the crew were desperate to ask questions, but they refrained from saying anything until their shift was over. Jim was amused to see that even Spock glanced over at him inquiringly from his work station. Once Alpha shift was over, the Captain headed towards an empty observation deck, knowing but not acknowledging that he was being followed.

Ensign Riley had once again beaten him there and was lounging on one of the chairs when they walked through the door. Grinning at the younger man, Jim flopped down next to him and waved the others to do the same. It came as no surprise to see Scotty, Spock, Uhura, Chekov, Sulu and Bones enter the room and join them.

"These idiots came to ask me if Ensign Riley was your son," Bones snorted, jerking his thumb at the others and rolling his eyes.

"Illogical," Spock denied immediately. "The Captain would have been nine years of age when Ensign Riley was born."

"That card said 'Dad' on it," Sulu defended, glancing between the apparent son and parent.

"Why give him a card anyway?" Uhura demanded.

"It's father's day," Jim explained simply.

"But you're not his father," Chekov sounded more confused than accusing, something that was made clearer by his Russian accent.

"He's as close as," Ensign Kevin Riley said stubbornly. "He's practically raised me since I was four."

Jim snorted. "Yeah, I did a great job of that when we lived in different states for eleven of the years we've known each other."

"You protected me when I was four until I turned five and then you talked to me every week," Kevin reminded him. "And you helped me out when I joined Starfleet."

The others still looked confused and like they were about to demand a thousand more questions. Neither Jim nor Kevin wanted to answer the expected questions. How could they possibly describe the bond that formed between them when they were fighting for their lives at the tender ages of thirteen and four?

The teenage James had often pushed himself beyond his limits in an attempt to keep Kevin safe and fed. He went without food for longer than was wise, but anything edible was given to the child before he'd have whatever was left. As the eldest of the nine children they'd joined, James always tried to help the children, but Kevin had been the youngest of all of them.

Their group had originally consisted of fifteen children ranging from the ages of fourteen to two. The eldest had been the first to fall, forcing James into the position of leader. It was heart-breaking every time one of the young ones died, and the deaths took the worst toll on James until Kevin was the only one who could make the teenager smile.

James and Kevin had been neighbours before the massacre started, so when the soldiers had begun firing, James had grabbed the child and ran. The newly orphaned Kevin had latched onto the teenager until he had replaced the missing parental figure in his life. When nightmares plagued him and he called out for his parents, James was the one to hold him and soothe him.

The first time Kevin had called James 'Dad' was as the Starfleet ships arrived with help. They were taken on-board the vessel and separated to get medical treatment. The young boy had screamed for his 'Dad', refusing to calm until he was placed back into James's arms. The display had caused the teenager to cry and force one of the Starfleet personnel to give him Kevin's coordinates for when he was sent home.

Their weekly talks were the only thing that kept them both sane. Kevin was raised by his grandmother who had originally been against allowing James – now going by the name Jim – any contact with her grandson. It was only when she realized how deep the bond between them went that she let them talk to each other.

Even when he was going out and getting into drunken fights nearly every night, Jim always made sure to stay sober one night a week and contact Kevin. He'd been shocked and elated when Kevin had announced that he'd joined Starfleet. He was lucky to be accepted so young, but even so, he wasn't placed on-board any ship until Captain Kirk had given him a place in engineering on the _Enterprise_.

How could they explain any of that to the Alpha crew that didn't even know either of them had gone through such a tragic experience? Only the highest officials of Starfleet knew what had happened to them in an attempt to protect them. They were classed as deserving such privacy since they were part of the Nine that had seen Kodos.

"It's hard to think of you acting like a father," Uhura admitted, interrupting the thoughts circling through the Captain's head.

Jim winced. "Funny. You're not the only one to say that."

"What's that mean?" Bones asked, raising an eyebrow in a way that was scarily reminiscent of Spock. He'd already know that Riley and Kirk were close and he'd heard a bit of the story from them, just without the details.

"It's nothing," Jim shrugged uncomfortably. "One of my ex's got pregnant and insisted that I'd make a terrible father. I haven't seen either her since and she never let me meet David – my son."

Kevin scowled, obviously angry about the injustice of the story. He'd been told about David as soon as Jim had known and counted the boy as a brother, even though they'd never met. He was just as angry about being kept away from the boy as Jim was. The others looked shocked that their Captain had a son – a biological one too.

"Another Jim Kirk," Bones sighed. "That's a scary thought." They knew that he didn't mean it in a cruel way. Out of all of them, he was the one that could understand the pain of being separated from your child. It crossed his mind that maybe he had more in common with Jim then he'd originally thought, even if they were great friends.

"Can't ever have too much of me," Jim smirked easily, hiding the pain that was caused by talking about his lost son.

"We can have too much of your ego," Kevin snorted, nudging him.

Jim knew that they'd let him get away from the questions and he was beyond thankful that they weren't going to force the matter. One day, he'd have to face up to Tarsus IV and everything that came with it. For now, he just wanted to relax in the company of his friends and one of his sons. Maybe if he tried hard enough, he could forget that there was another boy missing from the group on a day that was meant to be for the bond between father and child.

**A/N: Hope you liked this. Please review! :)**


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